First Impressions
by byebyebirdie58
Summary: Pony knows that first impressions are always important, especially when you're going off to college. It's just that that can be easier said than done sometimes. Oneshot.


This is a sidefic that parallels Intervention a little. However, you don't need to be familiar with it to follow the story.

I do not own _The Outsiders_ by S.E. Hinton, nor do I own _Bend Me, Shape Me_ performed by The American Breed. If anyone catches my homage to MASH I'll be very happy. Enjoy:)

* * *

He stood in the doorway of his brother's room and sighed. All that remained was an empty desk, a stripped bed, and a pin-up of Elvis in one corner. Some books and records remained scattered, but the room was just too empty for his liking. Everything else was neatly put into boxes and suitcases, all ready for their first year at Oklahoma State University. At least he'd have time to find himself a girl now. He'd always promised to wait until the kid was out of the house for that one. 

Darry turned and picked up the last box on the floor and kicked open the screen door. From the front door he could see Two-Bit leaning against the car, smoking. He placed the box in the truck bed and opened it curiously. Just a bunch of papers and composition books. The book on top looked particularly old, the front page bent and ripped in several places. Before he could pick it up, he felt Two-Bit clumsily fling his arm over Darry's shoulder.

"Let's get a move on, Superman."

Darry nodded curtly and closed the box. "Where's Pony?"

"I'm already in the car, Dar. If you'd hurry up we could get there before my Sophomore year."

"That kid's gotta stop getting so mouthy," Two-Bit muttered.

"Ain't much of a kid anymore," Darry said, absently.

Two-Bit clapped him on the back, before leaving to climb in the truck.

Darry sighed and closed the tailgate. The kid would only be an hour away, and somehow he had the feeling it would be more like a world away; a world he lost the chance to go to.

XxXxX

"Bend me, shape me any waaay you want meeee. As long as you love me it's all riiiight."

Darry winced as Two-Bit's voice rang, off key, from the passenger's seat. He vaguely wondered if Ponyboy would do him the favor of reaching over and hitting Two-Bit. Before he could think any further of it, he slammed on the brakes as the car in front of them stopped short. "Fuck! What the fuck is this fuckin' guy doing?"

"Darry, hate to tell you, but I think you just broke a record for amount of times possible to yell fuck in under fifteen seconds. Congrats," Two-Bit said.

Pony laughed, but Darry gripped the wheel all the more tightly. His head was aching and the shitty drivers on the road were doing nothing to ease his anxiety.

"Welcome to Stillwater, home of Oklahoma State University," Pony read as they passed the welcoming sign. "How much longer, Darry?"

"I'd guess fifteen minutes if these assholes clear off the road."

Pony laughed and looked out the window again, and Darry couldn't help but resist the urge to yell something -- anything. He was supposed to have gone there, and here was his baby brother going to college a year early, after everything that had happened to them, and he couldn't even be happy. Instead, he felt frustrated and miserable. Darry reached over and patted the kid on the back; at least someone was going to college.

XxXxX

"I'm on the fifth floor, I think." Pony said as they entered the crowded building. People were bumping into each other, chatting, and trying to figure out where to go all over the small building. Pony scouted out the stairwell and heaved two boxes and his suitcase while Darry and Two-Bit followed suite.

"Hey, kiddo, looks like you've got quite a selection of broads here. If Kathy wouldn't go nuts on me, I'd take a pick, too."

Pony didn't seem to be listening, though, and Darry vaguely wondered if he'd have had a steady girlfriend by now had he gone to college. He pushed the thought back before following his brother and friend up the stairs.

"What's your dorm number, Pony?"

"Thirty-seven, I think."

They walked down the hall until they came across a door marked "P.M. Curtis/D.J. Lewis" -- room thirty-seven. The door was unlocked as they pushed it open.

The young man seemed to have already made himself at home, his small bed made on the right side of the room, and a record spinning on the LP that sat on his desk. The sight of the boy was what seemed to be laughable. His hair was long -- longer than any of theirs had ever been -- and a beard had taken over the lower half of his face. A pair of moccasins sat by the bed and a peace medallion hung around his neck.

The boy rose and smiled, extending a hand. "David Lewis. I guess you'll be my roommate, then?"

"No, I'd have never guessed," Pony said.

Darry tried to throw him a warning glance to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, but David seemed oblivious to it. Instead, he took one of the boxes in Pony's arm and placed it on a second desk.

"I hope you don't mind me taking this side of the room, do you? I can move if you do."

"Uh, not at all. It's fine."

Darry sighed inwardly as Pony began unpacking his belongings without taking much further notice of David.

"I'm Darrel Curtis, Ponyboy's brother." he said, extending a hand to shake. David took it and smiled.

"That your real name? I like it. I've never really met anyone with much of a creative name."

"Yeah, it is." Pony seemed unwilling to share anything further.

Just then, Two-Bit came in the door, holding three boxes, one more than he'd had originally.

"Where'd you get the extra box, Two-Bit?" Darry asked, suspiciously.

"I found it out in the hall. Someone left it behind, and it seemed like a waste of perfectly good records."

"Isn't that stealing, though?" David asked.

Two-Bit grinned even more widely, something that Darry hadn't thought possible, and laughed. "Well, they didn't have no names on them, and I didn't see any reason why my friend should start college without some new records."

"I'm sure that's what the kid that left them thought, too," Darry muttered.

Two-Bit placed the records down and began to look through some of Pony's boxes, unpacking and seeming to manage to make even more of a mess.

XxXxX

Finally, after an hour of unpacking and re-arranging, the room was finished. Two beds on either side of the room, two desks, two small closets, and two drawers with everything neatly packed in them.

Pony had sat down to look through the records, and David was busy reading a magazine on his bed. Darry vaguely wondered where David's family was, and Two-Bit seemed to have been thinking along the same lines.

"Hey, Davey, where's your family?"

David looked up from his book and smiled a little. "My old man dropped me off and told me to call the old lady sometime. He doesn't really care for some of the things I do. I think the only thing he's ever approved of me is going to college."

Before any further conversation could continue, there was a sharp knock on the door, and Pony got up to open it, dropping the Beatles record he'd been examining. He opened the door, and in it stood two girls, one older and one younger.

The younger girl stepped forward and smiled. "Hi, I'm Peg McIntyre. I was wondering if you'd seen a box of records? I left them out and the hall and now I seem to be missing them and I haven't even been here four hours."

Darry glanced at Two-Bit, who seemed beside himself with laughter, and Darry quickly kicked the box behind the door.

"Uh … no, sorry, but we'll keep an eye out for it. Name's, uh, Ponyboy Curtis if you need me."

The older girl snorted at the name, but Peg only smiled. "I'll come by if I need your help. Maybe we'll see each other around."

"Yeah, sure." he said, closing the door.

Two-Bit let out a burst of laughter, and Pony shoved him off of the desk he was perched on. "Looks like you got Miss Peggy's records."

"Looks like _you _got 'em, Two-Bit." he said, glaring.

"Are you going to return them?" David asked from his bed.

"Maybe," Pony said, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure."

Darry laughed and smiled at his brother, hoping he'd make the choice to return them. "I'm gonna hit the road, buddy, but call me tonight, okay? And be real careful, kiddo."

Pony nodded and smiled. "I'll be fine, Dar."

"Sure thing, just look after yourself." Darry smiled at his brother and pulled him into a quick hug. "See you, kiddo. Nice meetin' you, David."

Darry walked out of the small room and smiled. No, he'd missed his chance at college -- at least for now, but one of his brothers hadn't, and he could still look out for him, too. Maybe he was still jealous, but he wasn't angry. The only thing he had to be angry about were the amount of shitty drivers on the road

"Hey, Two-Bit, I'm leaving without you! Quit flirting with these college girls and hurry up." He looked over his shoulder to see Two-Bit wave to a pretty girl and jog over to Darry.

He began to whistle through his teeth and smiled. Not even all the shitty drivers on the road could make him feel so bad.


End file.
